What seems to work for me is to have two different training cycles. I use a bodybuilding style volume cycle, and a strength style intensity cycle. By switching back and forth between them it seems to create different sorts of fatigue so I can recover from one cycle while doing the other one.
When I decide to take a week off…I do no training whatsoever. Sometimes its difficult to keep myself from the gym, but to me this is the entire essence of taking time off.